Treatment of cork for the manufacture of cork fabric.



is formed.

UNITED STATES Patented January 3, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

RAOUL ADRIEN GRIMCIN-SANSON, OF PARIS, FRANCE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 779,277, dated January 3, 1905.

Application filed July 30, 1904. Serial No. 218.915.

1'0 all whom it may concern.-

Be it kn own that I, RAoUL ADRIEN GRIMOIN- SANsoN, a citizen of the Republic of France, and a resident of Paris, France, have invented a new and useful Improvement Relating to the Treatment of Cork for the Manufacture of Cork Fabrics, which improvements are fully set forth in the following specification.

Cork has frequently hitherto been employed in combination with fabrics for the purpose of obtaining a light and impermeable product, which has found numerous applications in hatmaking, the manufacture of clothing, and the like. These cork fabrics are generally prepared by fixing thin strips of cork to the fabric either by means of a suitable cement or by uniting the two by pressing them together under heavy pressure. It has been found that the latter method cannot be successfully effected; and the present process has for its object certain improvements in the method of uniting the cork and fabric by cement in such a way that the resultingproduct is fully as supple as that prepared by the method in which pressure is employed, and possesses the advantage that the parts are efiiciently united, a result which it is impossible to efl ect by means of pressure.

The novel process is carried out in the following manner: After having triturated the cork which it is intended to treat the small pieces are subjected to pressure in any suitable press, so that a block of convenient size This block is subjected to a temperature of 120 centigrade for approximately three hours, so as to efiect the more intimate connection between the small constituent particles, the block being then placed in a suitable cutting-machine and cut into sheets of about one-tenth of a millimeter in thickness. In this form of exceedingly thin sheets the cork is then submitted to a chemical treatment, serving to remove from the cork the portions which render it liable to break. The procedure is as follows: In a large boiler capable of withstanding a pressure of six atmospheres and capable of containing about three hundred liters are poured ordinary ben- Zin, eighty liters; essence of turpentine or carbon sulfid, eighty liters; ordinary glycerin,

three liters; Para rubber, five hundred grams; hydrochloric acid, five thousand grams. After the mixture has been well agitated and rendered homogeneous the thin sheets of cork are placed therein and the whole is submitted to a temperature of centigrade for about two hours and a half. After this treatment the sheets need not be dried. They may at once be used for the reception of fabrics or tissues of any kind. The application of fabrics, leather, canvas, or other material to the sheets of cork prepared in this way is effected in the following manner: The material is first of all freed from all dust which might prejudicially affect the perfect adhesion of the sheets of cork to it. It is then stretched upon a tenteringroller, which conducts it beneath the roller distributing the substance serving to fix the cork to the fabric. This agglutinant solution is composed in the following manner: petroleum-ether, ten liters; ordinary caoutchouc, one kilogram; acetone, fifty grams. Before employing this solution it is allowed to macerate for forty-eight hours in order to facilitate the solution of the caoutchouc. The sheets of cork prepared in the manner described above are arranged side by side by an automatic distributer which arranges them upon the fabric provided with the agglutinant solution. Then in order that the adherence may be perfect the cork-coated material is passed between three rollers, the pressures of which increase progressively. The product obtained then passes into a stove, heated to 60 centigrade, upon copper rollers heated by steam and finally into a ventilated stove, wherethe drying is completed and in which the odor of the products employed disappears completely. Finishing or retouching is then effected, if necessary.

Cork which has undergone the treatment described for eliminating the friable portions may be united with fabrics of any kind, presenting either a large or small mesh, also with leather and other materials, and these combinations may be for applications of all kinds.

I claim I. The process of manufacturing cork fabric, which consists in forming the cork into thin sheets, treating the same with a mixture of benzin, turpentine or carbon sulfid, glycerin, Para rubber and hydrochloric acid in order to separate the friable portions therefrom, and then suitably applying said sheets to a fabric.

2. The process of manufacturing cork fabric, which consists in forming the cork into thin sheets, immersing the same in a mixture of benzin, turpentine or carbon sulfid, glycerin, Para rubber and hydrochloric acid, submitting the whole to a temperature of approximately 65 centigrade, removing the sheets from said mixture, and suitably applying said sheets to a fabric.

3. The process of manufacturing cork fabric, which consists in forming the cork into thin sheets and fixing said sheets to a suitable fabric by means of a paste composed of petroleum-ether, caoutchouc, and acetone.

4:. The process of manufacturing cork fabcork from which the friable portions 1mm;

been removed, and a sheet of fabric united therewith by means of a paste composed of petroleum-ether, caoutchouc and acetone.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscrib- 3 ing witnesses.

RAOUL ADRIEN GRIMOIN-SANSON.

Witnesses:

EMILE LEDRES, HANSON G. CoxE. 

